ARCHIVES: Adventure comes to an end for Tommy Gosser, but fight will go on

But while his fight is over, his family vows to continue to fight childhood cancer and leave behind a legacy for their son."We'll grieve, probably will never stop," said his father, David Gosser. "But if his legacy can be to help another child, to help another family, that's what we are going to do. The fight now extends far beyond Tommy."

Thomas' adventure, as he called it in a front-page story in the Daily Press in June of 2007, began in 2005 with a pain in his right hip. Over the months the pain intensified, and X-rays revealed and further tests confirmed that he had an inoperable form of Ewing's sarcoma, a rare cancer of the bones or soft tissue.

Thomas underwent an experimental treatment that shrunk the cancerous mass in his hip. By the time his story appeared in the paper, he had been cancer free for six months and he and his family were heading to Washington to lobby Congress with CureSearch, an advocacy group dedicated to curing childhood cancer.

The Conquer Childhood Cancer Act passed in 2008, but its programs still need to be funded. As the Virginia team leader for CureSearch, David Gosser said he plans to continue to lobby Congress to make sure that happens.

Thomas' cancer returned with a vengeance in August of 2007.

In March of this year the Gosser family appeared on the front page of the Daily Press again. David Gosser was participating in the 8th annual St. Baldrick's event at Children's Hospital of the King's Daughters, designed to show support for cancer patients and to raise money for childhood cancer research.

Participants receive donations in return for having their heads shaved. This year David Gosser raised more than $20,000, doubling his goal of $10,000 and making him the largest single fund raiser in Virginia.

And while he doesn't expect to continue to break records, David Gosser said he will continue to participate in the event.

"Tommy and I, in one of our talks, he said 'Are you going to shave you're head again?' " David Gosser said. "I said, 'Do you want me to shave my head?' And he said 'Yea, I want you to shave your head every year.' I am happy to do it and I am happy to honor my commitment to my son."

David Gosser said the family also plans to use the money they had set aside for his son's college education to continue to fund a college scholarship in marine sciences, to continue to pay for a small stipend at the law school at the University of Colorado and to rebuild the park at Warwick United Church of Christ and dedicate it to Thomas.

Over the years since Thomas' cancer was diagnosed, people from as far away as Singapore and as close as Hampton Roads have followed his adventure through his family's Web page on CaringBridge, a non-profit Web site designed to help those with critical illnesses communicate with others.

Readers learned about his good days - including an August phone call from self-proclaimed "redneck" comedian Jeff Foxworthy - and more recently read along in September as his father wrote about his son's decline and imminent death.

"It's an arduous journey of unknown length - it's a hell of a thing waiting for your child to die, before your very eyes," David Gosser wrote on his Sept. 19 entry. "We told Tommy it is OK to go, but no one told Tommy he had to go quickly, and so he hasn't. It's our blessing and curse, torture day-by-day, elation in small moments, tragedy by the bucketful, a vortex of emotions."

On Monday it's how many learned of Thomas' passing.

"It is with broken hearts and great sadness that we send Tommy to Heaven, another angel called home far too soon."